Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Penguins have a NEW potential suitor to buy the team!

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

As the saga of the Penguins’ ownership continues, another name has emerged as a potential buyer of the team. Hunter and Patrick dive into the reports that the Hoffmann Family has been linked to the team as a possible buyer from Fenway Sports Group. They look at the reported cost, what the Hoffmann Family owns, including the ECHL’s Florida Everglades, and what it could mean for the team’s future. Then, Penguins’ forward Bryan Rust has been extended an invite to Team USA’s Olympic orientation camp, but does he have a shot at making the roster? Finally, to close out the show, changes are coming to the SportsNet Pittsburgh broadcast booth, they share their thoughts on who will call games this season. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to Indeed.com/LOCKEDON right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A new potential buyer has entered the fray for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Pat and I are going to give you guys the details on that right after this. Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host.

Patrick Damp, you can follow him. on all social media platforms at Sindon Verwet, as my German Shepherd barks in the background at probably a deer family outside because they have been loving our grass for the past couple of weeks at this point. You can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins, and you can follow the show's Instagram account

at Lockdown underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this, your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandle. Football season is right around the corner. visit the Fandau app today and start planning your futures bets right now. So of course, Pat, right as we wrap up our episode on Monday,

we get that big report from Elliot Friedman, who just drops a link on his Twitter, doesn't even bother to tweet any words. He just says, hey, I'm going to drop the story here, and I'm going to go back to my summer vacation where he's probably at his cottage and all that. And it's a big story when it comes to the Pittsburgh Penguins, because he reports that the Chicago-based Hoffman family, led by David Hoffman, who owns the ECHL's Florida Everblades.

He has emerged, along with his family, as a serious contender to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins from the Fenway Sports Group. So the Florida Everblades, as I said, they're in the ECHL. They won three ECHL titles in a row before losing in the playoffs this year. They've been very good for the last several years. And he does say there is still work to do, so no one should assume this is a done deal. but if the sale closes is expected to be in the 1.75 billion range. It's a little bit lower than I thought it was going to be, Pat.

I projected $1.9 billion to maybe even $2 billion just because of that's kind of where the franchise is right now. And I've seen some takes like, well, why would FSC want to do this? They just bought the team. They bought the team for $900 million. If you can get almost $1.8 billion for that team that you bought only four years ago, I think you have the obligation to do that. like you're getting double the money that you paid for.

It's a really nice return on investment. Okay, though, as for everything else, let's just see what happens here. I think when I did a little bit more research into this, it seems like a family that like sports, they know what it takes to win. You see that in the ECHL level. He's talked about wanting to buy an NHL team at some point,

so it's no wonder he has interest in the Pittsburgh Penguins. that family aspect really appeals to me. I'm not going to sit here and say anything too negative about FSG. I feel like part of the team has definitely become a little corporate since they bought it, at least in my opinion. But I also think some of the FSG hate is a bit forced. The Penguins still spend the salary cap every year except this year just because they're rebuilding. They've done a really good job building out the front office, the arena upgrades.

I don't see a lot of people talk about that, Pat. they were the ones that funded the money to upgrade PBG Paints Arena, especially that big scoreboard that you see, really beautiful. So all that is very good. Now, are they a little bit corporate right now? Yes, I would say that. So going from that to a potential family aspect is really good. Also, I kept seeing a couple people who DM me this because, of course,

people have to freak out about the smallest of things. So David and his wife, they met in high school while girls, up in Missouri. People were like, oh, they grew up in Missouri. What's that going to be? It's like, guys, they're not going to move to Kansas City. This is still a team that has at PBG Paints Arena for the next 15 years. This has one of the best fan bases in the NHL, not just in Pittsburgh, not just in the United States, but around the world. So I know I saw a couple people freak out about that. There is nothing to worry about that. This team is not going anywhere to Pat. Those are some of my miscellaneous all over the thoughts on this situation. What say you about the Hoffman family being interested in buying

the Pittsburgh Penguins? Well, let's start at the end with what you said. The Penguins lease at PPG paints arena runs through 2040. That is ironclad. If they break it, it would come at a tremendous financial cost to the franchise. Because if you've ever rented an apartment or a house or anything like that, you know the cost that comes to you individually when you break a lease. Imagine what happens when you do that with an arena and a city. It would cost them millions and millions of dollars. And if you buy a team for almost $2 billion, a lot of people will look at that and go, well, they have the money.

Not after you spend that kind of money to buy a franchise. So put that worry to the side. Here's, I like the way our pal Josh Yohe put it. Is there a for sale sign hanging around the Pittsburgh Penguins like the cover art of Slapshot? Not right now. But if you are FSG, I think we're starting to see a bit of a pattern emerge here. They did something they've wanted to do for a while, which is get involved with the

NHL. It's not really going the way they hoped. Part of that is they bought a team that. kind of at the end of a generational run. Putting all of the hockey aside in just talking business-wise, the penguins were on a generational run business-wise. New arena, everything else surrounding it, the success on the ice,

having the players that they did, coupled with the growth that the National Hockey League has seen over the past decade or so, the penguins were at the epicenter of a lot. lot of that. So the penguins were an extremely valuable asset. Problem is that eventually comes to an end. It's starting to come to an end for the penguins. It doesn't mean that suddenly the penguins are bad. It doesn't mean suddenly it's a poor franchise. It just means that FSG got in probably at the wrong time. And FSG is a highly diversified sports company. The Hoffman family is a deeply diversified

business company. I did my research on the Hoffman family. They have their hands in everything. Real estate, retail, aviation, equity, you name it. They are everywhere. They have a lot of money in a lot of things. So when you look at what they would likely do

with the penguins were they to buy them, it would probably be similar to the Lemieux group. They would probably have a work part of their business that is solely dedicated to the Pittsburgh Penguins. And I know a lot of people will hear that and think, well, that's what FSG has. Yes and no. FSG has a couple of people that deal with the Penguins. Hoffman family would probably have a breakout of multiple people and multiple employees

who their only focus is the Pittsburgh Penguins. They do nothing else. You look at Fenway, they're dealing with the Red Sox, they're dealing with Liver, pool they're dealing with everything else around it as well as the penguins so that's a little bit different on the other hand i also think we got to pump the brakes a little bit this is just business fsg is doing their due diligence to see what's out there i'd be willing to bet it was probably not highly reported on when the lemieux group owned the penguins they probably did the same thing quite a bit because as I said,

Penguins were on a generational run. They were making a ton of money. They were extremely profitable. They continued to rise in value. So I'd be willing to bet Lemieux, Berkel, and company were probably looking at the team's value and seeing what was out there.

And by the time Fenway bought the team, they were as close to a billion dollar franchise as they were ever going to be. And they picked the right time to get out. Do they want to get back in? We'll see what happens. But at the end of the day, between FSG doing their due diligence, expansion coming in a few years, Penguins value is going to go up again just by relation to the growth of the league.

So if you're Fenway and you're not really getting out of this what you thought you did, you can cash out at a pretty high number. Or you could just wait, as you kind of just mentioned. Say you don't want to do a full sale right now, even though it would be $1.75 billion, which is a fairly big number. if you wait a couple more years back, that number goes up to potentially $2 billion, if not more.

And then you get more than double the money that you paid for when you bought the team in 2021. So they don't have to do this right now. I think if there's a sale to be made, it either happens before the season or it doesn't happen until sometime next year after the season. I don't think you would want something like this happening during a season where I think it just gets awkward.

like if you're changing ownership during a season in which the players are playing, the coaches are coaching, and the GM in the front office are trying to do the work to put the best team on the ice every single night.

I think it just creates an awkward dynamic where, oh, like, my boss is changing. Like, you should just wait until, for example, next June, next July, like after free agency, like the run of it in 2026 ends,

that's maybe when you can really put this into motion. So I either think this happens now before camp or it doesn't happen until after the season, just because I think you create that weird dynamic. And as for FSG as well, FSG as well, FISG has a lot of irons in the fire right now. I know Red Sox fans aren't really high on them. That whole Mookie Bed situation was a bit weird. Liverpool, I mean, that's been crazy for the last year.

They just won the Premier League. They had a big transfer this summer. They're trying to get Alexander Isak from Newcastle, and that could be a potential $200 million price. So they're spending quite a bit of money on Liverpool right now. They're still spent quite a bit of money on the Penguins, but I can see them wanting to secure a bag right now, give it to someone else that can stabilize this scheme for the long-term future

while maybe focusing on some of their other assets. Because you are right, like they have people, FHG that is, at games every single week that, you know, report to John Henry, Tom Warner and all that. But I think if you have a family like this, owns the team, they'll have, you know, the main guy there, they'll have maybe his son there, maybe someone else that only works with the penguins

and then can deliver those reports to, you know, David, who's the big owner or whoever. So I agree with you on that. But again, it goes back to like that family aspect that I think has been missing from the penguins these last few seasons. And I do think that will be a big plus if that is to get done. Still, they're negotiating right now. We have to see what happens.

And to your point, I just want to add this real quick. You know, obviously this is not nearly the same, but I understand your point about the awkwardness of a sale. You know, I'll lace some breadcrumbs down. You can figure it out. I'm not going to name names, but I just went through this at my full-time job. There was an ownership change.

And it makes for a very awkward time because you don't know who the controlling interest of who you're working for is going to be anymore and what their vision is, where they want to take the company, what it means for jobs, what it means for stability. So that's a really good point as well. If FSG wants to do this, it's either got to be before the season starts or they got to kick the can down the road and keep working on this throughout the season and do it next off season because the players not so much, but front office staff, game day workers,

the hockey operations staff, the people with the arena. It becomes a very awkward environment if you don't know what is coming in after your team gets sold or your company gets sold. So at the end of the day, I think realistically I come back to what I said initially is that they're just, I do think some breaks need to be pumped here because this at the end of the day really does feel like it is an ownership. doing its due diligence in finding out what is out there and what they could possibly make, rather than putting the team up for sale and saying, highest bidder, you get it. Let's roll.

So I think this is a lot of speculation that we're probably not going to get an end to until probably 2026, maybe even later. Right. I don't think FSC is in a rush to do this right now. Again, I think if you do this during the season, it just gets a bit awkward. I don't really think they or anyone else in the organization would want that. But we're going to park the story right there. Let us know what you think about this development and the comments.

You can send us a DM and all that good stuff. But that would do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Brian Rust gets an invite to the Team USA orientation camp. Will he make Team USA for the 2026 Olympics next year? Pat and I are also going to discuss that right after this. Before we get to that, though, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor. And that is GameTime. Have you ever decided at the last minute to head to a ball game game game with friends or family?

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Terms apply again, create account and redeem code Locked on NHL for $20 off. Down the game time map today, last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-Patch, Pat. So big news for Pittsburgh Penguins forward, Brian Rust on Tuesday, he was one of 44 players who were invited to the U.S. men's Olympic orientation camp, along with players, of course, like Jake Gensel, Jack Hughes.

Quinn Hughes there, Charlie McAvoy, Jack Eichol, Kyle Connor, Tage Thompson, Brady Kachuk, I can keep going, Jason Robertson, but Brian Rust is on there, which shows that he is definitely in contention to make the 2026 Team USA hockey team for the Olympics next year. And I'm all for it, man. This is a pretty big honor considering the year that he just had. We've wax poetic about him so many times on this show throughout the summer. And again, man, this is really a nice honor for him, considering how consistent he has been as a penguin since coming into the league. And if he gets off to another great start next season going into February,

I think at least as a reserve, Team USA will very much consider him. Will he play? I don't think so as of this time. I hate saying that. Team USA is just really deep compared to where they've been in years past. I think this is the deepest team USA team of my lifetime. I've said that on the show a lot. But I think as a reserve, he could definitely find his way onto the team bat.

Just don't think he's going to start. Well, the question you have to ask is with the I, IHF in the Olympic rules, 14 forwards, eight defensemen, three goalies. You obviously can take a reserve or two, but they're not going to be on your active roster. But at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, is he one of the 14 best American forwards right now? And I come down on the side of no. And I don't mean that as a diss to Brian Rust. You said it. We've waxed poetic about how well he's played the last few years, how good he's been as a penguin, how good he's been individually, because this is a guy who came in

with no expectation. He was supposed to be a bottom six penalty killer. And now he's a bona fide top six winger and he's a very versatile forward. But then you look at the amount of talent that has come out of the U.S. development program into the NHL. And the other thing that I think kind of works against Brian Rust, there's a lot of really young, good American talent. And as hyper-focused as we are on the upcoming Olympics, Garin and Team USA aren't just focused on the upcoming Olympics. They're focused on the next Olympics, in the Olympics after that,

in the Olympics after that. Because this could be a really, really big, successful era for Team USA, because there's a lot of young, very talented Americans who are currently in the, NHL and that are going to be in the NHL over the next five to ten years. So I come down as he's got to have another big year. He's got to have a big start to the season.

He essentially has to make himself undeniable. This is not a one to one comparison, but you can see the shades of it. It's a lot like Chris Kunitz in 2014. You can joke that, oh, he only got there because he was Sid's winger, which is is partially true. But when you look at Kunitz's numbers from the time he joined the Penguins to that 2014 Olympic team,

he was one of the best wingers in hockey, and that was hard to do. He earned his way on to Team Canada. Now Brian Rust has to do that with Team USA. I'm skeptical. I think he might get a lifetime achievement award and get brought along as an extra, but as an everyday player,

it is going to be an uphill battle for Brian Russ to make Team USA. I agree with that last part for sure. I just think with the amount of talent that team USA has right now, I don't see a place for him for the every night lineup. But I do think there is a decent chance that he will go as a reserve, considering how consistent he's been. I mean, for God's sake, Kyle Connor was scratched in the Four Nations Championship game

for reasons that I will forever be confused about for, you know, players like, you know, Vince Trocheck, even, you know, J.T. Miller was there, you know, Chris Crider and all that. I think Team USA has to make some changes around the market. And I will say I put Rust right now as we record this episode on August 20th. He's in the same category for me as Chris Kreider, as J.T. Miller, as Vince Trocheck, in that. That's there. Are they, they're not bad players, but I would not put them among the best American players right now. They are right on the outside.

They're knocking on the door. It doesn't. And I know that everybody has their hot takes about these guys. guys in the NHL, but when you look at just the pool of American forwards, they're among the best. Are they among the best 14? I'm skeptical. No, I agree. And that's why, again, Team USA needs to make some changes along the margins for the Olympics. You know, you take out a few of those Rangers guys. You put in someone like a T. H. Thompson, Jason Robertson, Cole Caulfield. And I can make your team even stronger. Obviously, Kyle Conner should be an every night player for you at the Olympics. But

I could probably talk about this for 15, 20 minutes. We just don't have that time. But again, as for Rust, reserve an extra. I think there's a decent chance of that. But I'm just excited that he's getting the opportunity to show what he can do at the orientation. And they will have an eye on him to start this season. Pat, I don't think this is going to be like a Chris Kunitz where, oh, like Sid, just carried him to team USA. But Brian Russ has been very consistent throughout his career on either of those top two lines, whether it's with Crosby or with Malkin.

the way that he has developed, I think, is the big day. Again, you're right. We can joke forever about Chris Kunitz. It is funny to joke about it. But Kunitz was still really good to get on to that team because Canada is stacked virtually every single year at the Olympics. So the fact that he got there is a pretty big accomplishment, but I digress. Do you have anything else to add about this or the team in general?

I do find it kind of weird that Lane Hudson was not invited and never thought he was going to make the team next year. 2030 is probably a better bet for him. heck even the 28 World Cup of hockey. But there's really not too many players here that I'm kind of confused about. It is funny that Patrick Kane is there. I don't think he's going to be on the Olympic team. But I guess if they just want to give him a courtesy invite to the orientation camp,

that's fine. He's the best more American board player. Not to belabor the Chris Kunitz point, but if you look at his two seasons prior to 1314, the guy put up 120 points. And he put up, if my math is correct, which it might not be 57 goals. Like it wasn't like I know that everybody jokes at oh,

Sid brought his preferred winger, but the guy scored almost 60 goals across two seasons and he put up 120 points. Like he earned his way onto that team. Brian Rust, on the other hand, he hit a career high last year and he's done pretty comparable work. But at the same time for him, there are a bunch of American players who did just as if not better. better than him. And I hate saying this because you guys know I love Brian Rust. He's one of my

favorite penguins of all time. But you look at Team USA right now and how good the American program has become. It's going to be really difficult to justify giving Brian Rust a full-time spot. Right. I think we probably said that 500 times in the last 10 minutes. So probably don't have to repeat ourselves. But to sum it all up, congratulations to Brian Ross being invited. And we're both very excited to see what he can do during the season to see if he can earn his. way onto Team USA, again, as an extra reserve or even more. But that would do it for the second segment coming up to end the show. There's going to be some broadcast changes to Sportsnet Pittsburgh for the 2025,

2026 season. And Pat and I are going to discuss that right after this. Before we get to that, though, we have to tell you all about our final sponsor, and that is Fandul. August 26 is officially Fandall Futures Day, a brand new holiday for football fans who live for bowl predictions and preseason hunting. For just 24 hours, Vandal is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you're calling your MVP, I a long shot division winner, or ready to crown your

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Visit the Fandall app today and start planning your futures bets right now because Futures Day is one day and one day only. That is Fandle play your game. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-O's patchedamp and Pat. This news comes courtesy of Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Cazette. He was the first to report this that Mike Rupp will not be returning to Sportsnet, Pittsburgh for the 2025,

2026 season. So the two main color analysts on SportsNet Pittsburgh will be Colby Armstrong and Phil Borg Benzel does report in his article that Bork is going to get more TV time this year, which that's a huge plus for me.

I think he and Josh gets off together. That is the gold standard. But I'll say this again here on the show. I think the penguin's best bet for a better broadcast is upcoming season, And I saw the athletic votes among fans and all that, that penguins were towards the bottom,

which I found that was ridiculous. I think the penguin's best bet is gets off calling the game, borked up in the booth with him, Colby down ice level to give you what he's seeing down there. Obviously, you can crack some jokes. I think he really balances his analysis with his humor, just because he's naturally a funny guy, but he also knows the game in and out.

So I want him part of every broadcast. And then Phil Bork, he always knows when to call out the team versus when to give him credit. And then gets off, I really like how energetic he is the way that he sees the game. I think he's a really good play-by-play announcer. People can disagree with if they want with that. That's just how I see it. That is my dream broadcast, at least for this upcoming season. You make a three-man broadcast team with them.

It doesn't sound like that's what's going to be. That's what my idea would be, though. but it sounds like it's going to be gets off again with Bork and Colby kind of rotating. As for Mike Rubb, wish him the best of luck. He does some other stuff with Series X-Hemmy, he does some stuff with the Rangers. But I think of the three analysts last year, Pat, my opinion, I like his analysis the least out of him, Colby, and Phil Bork. For sure. And I don't want this to sound like I think Rupp's bad.

I don't think he is at all. I think he's solid. He does a good job. But this is the right decision for SportsNet, Pittsburgh. And I'm with you. Dream scenario is Gets Off on the call, Bork on color, Colby between the benches, adding that little bit of humor, that little bit of relief, because that's just what he, that's his wheelhouse. That's what he's great at. And I also agree. I think Gets off has really come into his own as a play-by-play commentator. I think he has a really good feel for the game. He really knows when to let the game tell the story.

and when to interject himself, which if you ask me, that is a massively lost art in the modern day. A lot of play-by-play commentators feel the need to just talk about everything at all times when you can let the flow of the game, the crowd, everything else tell the story without you interjecting, which is how you can tell that Gets Off learned from Mike Lang, because Mike Lang was beautiful with that.

He would just let it sit and let the game, tell the story rather than him. As for Bork, give him all the TV time because he strikes the exact correct balance basically at all times. There are times when he is a shameless Penguins homer. And remember, we're talking about Sportsnet Pittsburgh here. This isn't ESPN. This isn't TNT.

You don't have to be 50-50 down the middle. It's mostly Penguins fans watching your broadcast, cater to the Penguins fans. But he also knows when this team needs a kick in the pants. And when they don't put together a good effort, he's not going to mince words about it. And I don't want to dump on a former one. But when he comes up with good critiques of the team, it wasn't like Bob Airy. I loved Bob Erie as a character.

I loved Bob Erie as a hockey player. but Bob Ari's solution to everything for the penguins when they were playing poorly was to get physical. It didn't matter what was going on the game. Aries's solution to everything was getting someone's face and throw a big hit and maybe get in a fight. Bork will diversify a little bit times where Bork says, yeah, throw a hit, get the juice going.

But then there'll be times where we'll talk about the defense not being in position and the defense not moving the puck well or the forward's not getting on the forecheck or the penguin's not shooting the puck enough. Bork has really become a really underrated color commentator in the NHL. And if you can get it to the point where he's the full-time color commentator for TV, you're in a really good spot. Right. And they'll have to figure out what they want to do with the radio broadcast.

If they give Bork more games as Matt Bensel is reporting, I'm curious to see if Michelle Crockiolo gets more games on radio. I listened to her a couple of times last year. I think she transitioned really well from the written side. to the audio broadcast side, and I think the penguins, it would behoove them to give her some more reps because I think she was doing a really good job.

And again, Pat, very limited sample, and she's a great team reporter on their website. Don't get me wrong, but I thought she did a really nice job filling in at times on the radio. Oh, I would absolutely agree. And the thing about it is I didn't have a ton of expectation for crecchio loo, and I don't mean that in a negative way. It was just a blank slate.

How are you going to do? How's it going to sound? And she cleared every bar. I thought she was fantastic. And I don't have much more to add. I think she earned a bigger look on radio. And if that continues to go well, who knows, in a couple of years, maybe we see her on Sportsnet Pittsburgh, because she has really come into her own as both.

She was already a great writer. She is a phenomenal. Oh, yeah. Did not know how she would do as a broadcast. or did really well. Next thing you know, maybe we put her on TV and see how she does. But she was great on radio. And I think at this point, you can say they're really starting to figure it out

and starting to get to a good, consistent broadcast team. Right, 100%. And I do think the time is coming when she is going to get at least a couple of reps on TV. If they need her to fill in for Colby or Frilbork, if both of them can't be available for a game. I know Colby has the stuff with NHL and CNN. see, I believe, and then he also has some sports net duties he has to do. So he tries to balance all this.

And if a forecast to do a game on radio and he's not available, I could easily see them going to Michelle and be like, hey, want to come on here. We don't have either of these two guys available. So I do think that one is coming and I would be really curious to see how she would do on TV as well. And one more thing. As for Bob Berry, I do agree with you. He would kind of turn into my Labrador retriever when his brain just goes like, oh, my God. Like, just physical, physical. So like that's how Bob Erie would be.

And don't get me wrong. He was a ton of fun to listen to. But towards the end of his tenure, I was just wanting better analysis. I get it. Some people will say he got shafted by FSG. And yeah, the exit was a little bit weird. Let's be real here. I agree with that.

But in terms of his actual analysis, I felt like it could have been better. And I feel like I learned more about the gain when I listen to someone like Phil Bork or Colby Armstrong, not just disresum. fucking Bob Barry, listen to a lot of him throughout my childhood, throughout my teenage years, but I just felt like, again, they could use better analysis. That's all I'll say on that. But I think that will do it for the Wednesday edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Pat and I are going to be back on Thursday because I have a couple of things to do on Friday.

I'm going to be out of town for that night. So Pat and I will come back on Thursday or getting close to finishing the Locked on Penguins top 25 of the last 25 years pat we're going to do the top five stanley cup guys tomorrow and then we'll also of course get to your takes for a special fan take thursday we know you say fan take friday but it's going to be fan take thursday for this one but again that'll do it for the wednesday episode thank you guys so much for tuning in we appreciate it we'll be back on thursday